The new North American trading week began very cautiously on Monday, March 26^th with investors fully aware that the major markets were firmly in negative territory on the year – something that they didn’t encounter in all of 2017.

Commodity markets were taken by surprise when China announced it had launched its own crude oil futures exchange that would trade the world’s largest commodity in its domestic yuan/renminbi currency.

Finish Line ‘FINL-Q’ shares’ soared up by over 31^% to US$13.86 on word the American sports retailer had agreed to a US$13.50 takeover offer from British athletic retailer JD Sports.

Tuesday, March 27^th saw Arizona Mining ‘AZ-T announce the company had received permits to begin construction of the twin declines that will access the prized Taylor zinc-lead-silver deposit in Arizona.

General Electric ‘GE-N’ shares’ rose by over 4^% to US$13.44 on word that the world’s foremost value investor Warren Buffet was taking a position in the beleaguered multifaceted company.

The price of Nvidia Corp. ‘NVDA-Q’ stock fell by 7.5^% to US$226.03 after the chipmaker suspended its autonomous vehicle testing in light of a recent fatal accident suffered by passenger mover Uber Inc.

Wednesday, March 28^th had the U.S. Commerce Department revise America’s 4^th-quarter economic growth up by 0.4^% to 2.9^%.

Badger Daylighting ‘BAD-T’ shares’ surged up by over 12.5^% to $25.99 after the drilling/tunneling company beat the streets’ expectations with its 4^th-quarter financials.

The price of GoldQuest Mining ‘GQC-V’ plunged by almost 33^% to $0.20 after the Dominican Republic based miner received an unexpected cease work order from the government.

Amazon.com ‘AMZN-Q’ stock fell by 4.5^% to US$1,430.00 after U.S. President Donald Trump said he was going to look into the business practices of the online delivery company.

The price of Asanko Gold ‘ASK-T’ soared higher by almost 40^% on Thursday, March 29^th on word that South Africa based Gold Fields was taking up a significant interest in company’s Ghana holdings.

Still on the African Continent – Mining companies Glencore PLC, Ivanhoe Mines ‘IVN-T’, and Randgold Resources ‘GOLD-N’ have proposed a sliding scale production royalty to counter the windfall tax introduced earlier by the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Goldcorp Inc. ‘G-T’ announced the company will enter the world of cryptocurrency by selling about 3,000 ounces of its gold production by means of blockchain technology.

Friday, March 30^th had the markets closed for the Easter long weekend.

During the Week – Atlantic Gold ‘AGB-T’ at $1.97, Jamieson Wellness ‘JWEL-T’ at $24.58 and Premium Brands ’PSH-T’ at $119.04 all rose to new TSX 52-week trading highs while Alimentation Couche-Tard ‘ATD.A-T’ at $55.03, BCE-Inc. ‘BCE-T’ at $54.19 and Laurentian Bank ‘LB-T’ at $46.57 all fell to new 52-week trading lows.

For the Week – the Dow Industrials gained 2.42^% to 24,107, with the S&P 500 up by 2.09^% to 2,642 and the NASDAQ Exchange ahead by 1.00^% to 7,063. Up north – the TSX Composite Index improved by 0.94^% to 15,367 while the TSX Venture Exchange lost 2.57^% to 797.

With Commodities – gold bullion fell by 1.92^% to US$1,330, while copper gained 1.34^% to US$3.03, as crude oil dropped by 1.46^% to US$64.92 and natural gas rose by 3.80^% to US$2.73. Overall – the CRB Spot Commodity Index fell by 0.46^% to finish the week at 437.

The Canadian dollar rose by 0.06^% against its southern neighbor to end the week at US$0.7760.

And Finally – In light of the recent unauthorized release of personal data accusations against social media giant Facebook Inc. ‘FB-Q’ – An Angus Reid poll found that about 75^% of Canadian Facebook users say they will restrict the amount of data they post on social-media.